Scorpius's true love
by scorbus always
Summary: Scorbus. Scorpius has finally managed to get a date with Rose. But is Scorpius missing out on his true love that has always been there for him? This story is about how Scorpius and Albus fall in love. Set just after the end of Cursed Child. JK Rowling owns all characters.
1. Chapter 1

'Scorpius, what the fuck are you doing?' asked Albus incredulously.

It was 9:32am on a Saturday morning and Albus had just woken up to see Scorpius standing in front of the mirror wearing smart robes appropriate for an all-pure-blood dinner party from 300 years ago.

Scorpius turned away from the mirror to look at Albus. 'Getting ready for my date with Rose. Why?'

Albus jumped out of bed and grabbed his friend's shoulders, examining his outfit. 'Scorpius, that outfit would be great if you were going on a date with a girl from the ninteenth century. But I don't think Rose is into that kind of look.'

Scorpius's face fell. 'But I asked Father for advice, and he said that the key to impressing a girl is presentation. He sent me these clothes himself.'

'You asked your dad for dating advice?' Albums burst out laughing. 'Scorpius, no offence, but these days we just wear regular Muggle clothes, y'know? It's best not to look like you're trying too hard.'

Poor Scorpius glanced at himself in the mirror again. 'But Father said a man should try hard to show his woman that he's put in a lot of effort for her. I really, really want to make a good impression on Rose.'

Albus sighed. Clearly, Scorpius was going to need a lot of help with this. After all, he didn't want his best friend to make a fool of himself on his first date. So Albus pulled his trunk out from under his bed and flicked it open. He pulled out a plain white T-shirt and jeans.

'Here, try these on,' said Albus, chucking them to Scorpius.

Scorpius missed (Albus should've seen that coming), and picked the articles of clothing off the ground. Scorpius held the T-shirt over his body and inspected it in the mirror.

'Thanks Albus. I don't know what I'd do without you. Father doesn't buy me any Muggle clothes, you see, so I'm totally clueless about - '

'Scorpius, just try them on!' interrupted Albus. His best friend would babble on all day if no one stopped him.

'Okay, okay. Um, I'll just go on my bed and...uh...close the curtains...'

Albus rolled his eyes. All the other boys had been very private during the first month or so of their first year at Hogwarts, never even changing a shirt in front of each other. They'd soon lost their initial shyness and now couldn't care less about what anyone saw. All except Scorpius, who still insisted on changing in the private of his bed.

Now Scorpius emerged shyly from his bed and looked at himself in the mirror.

'Wow, you actually look like a normal teenager for once,' said Albus, standing next to Scorpius. 'The clothes fit you well, too.'

Scorpius was around the same height as Albus, but he was thinner, so Albus had been worried that the clothes would hang too loosely on him, but they looked fine.

'Thanks Albus.' Scorpius put a hand on Albus's shoulder. 'I really appreciate it.'

'At least you're ready for your date now.'

'No way.' Scorpius shuddered. 'I may _look_ ready, but I'm not _emotionally_ ready. I'm so nervous. What do I even say to her? I don't know how to be witty or interesting! What if we run out of things to talk about?' Scorpions paced anxiously around the room.

'Scorpius, sit down.' Albums patted his bed. They both sat down next to each other. 'Don't worry too much. Just make sure you ask her about herself - her hobbies, her friends - maybe don't ask her about her family though.'

Scorpius giggled. It was quite cute, actually.

'And respond to anything she says with intelligent comments,' Albus added.

'Intelligent comments. Okay.' Scorpius breathed in deeply. 'I've got this.'

'You got this. Oh yeah, and Scorpius?'

'Yeah?'

'Be yourself. You're a great person.'

Scorpius smiled. 'Thanks Albus.' They engaged in a hug for a few seconds.

'Now get off my bed so I can go back to sleep.'


	2. Chapter 2

Scorpius shivered as he waited outside the castle for Rose. He'd wanted to take a jacket, but all the other boys were in T-shirts, and they didn't look cold. He didn't want Rose to think he was uncool.

'Nice look, Scorpius. It suits you much better than the other weird shit you usually wear.'

Rose was standing in front of Scorpius. She was wearing a slightly cropped flowery top and black skinny jeans. Today her hair was fully loose, and Scorpius could clearly make out every curl.

'You look beautiful,' said Scorpius, because it was true. Rose smirked, and Scorpius realised he should have been more "low-key". The couple set off towards Hogsmeade. Scorpions wondered if he should hold her hand, but none of the other girl/boy pairs were doing that. Instead, he tried to think of something to say to her.

'Do you come to Hogsmeade often?' asked Scorpius.

'Every weekend. Usually with my friends. I see you at the sweet shop with my cousin sometimes.' Rose didn't look at Scorpius as she spoke, even though Scorpius was trying hard to maintain eye-contact.

'I love the sweets there! It's my favourite thing about Hogsmeade.'

Rose raised an eyebrow. 'Really? You're so skinny though.'

Scorpius was suddenly very self-conscious. Maybe he should've brought a jacket after all. 'Yeah...it's genetic. My...my mum was really slim.'

'Scorpius, are you implying that she's fat now?' Rose laughed.

'No. She died a couple of years ago.'

They were both suddenly quiet. Rose looked embarrassed. The silence remained until they reached the town.

'So, where d'you want to go for lunch?' asked Scorpius 'I know this place, it's - '

'Let's go there!' Rose pointed to a generic-looking café at the end of the road. 'I've never been there before.'

OK then. That was fine too.

When they reached the café, Scorpius held the door open for Rose, trying to be polite. He noticed that Rose didn't thank him, but then again it wasn't that big of a deal.

Rose went straight to the counter to order. 'I'll have a skinny latte,' she said. 'What about you, Scorpius?"

'Umm...' Scorpius's stomach rumbled. He'd assumed they were going for lunch. But it would look weird and rude if he ordered a proper meal while Rose had a drink. 'Please can I get a pain au chocolat? And some...uh...orange juice?'

'Sure...anything else?' said the woman at the counter.

'No, that's it.' Rose gestured towards a table-for-two by the window.

As soon as Scorpius sat down he started to feel awkward. This was so different to his usual casual Hogsmeade weekends with Albus, when he could be himself and have fun stuffing himself full of food. No, this was a lot different. Scorpius needed to stay calm and follow Albus's advice.

 _Hobbies. Ask her about her hobbies._ 'What do you do in your spare time, Rose?' This seemed a good way of asking about Rose's hobbies, but as soon as the words were out of Scorpius's mouth he wished he'd phrased the question differently.

Rose flicked her hair behind her shoulders. 'Nothing much...I'm quite busy with schoolwork, but I'm always going out with my friends to Hogsmeade. We go every weekend.'

'Thats nice.' Scorpius frowned. 'But we don't _have_ trips to Hogsmeade every weekend, so how are you able to go that often?'

'Ha. We sneak out, duh. Come on, even you must know about the passage behind the One-Eyed Witch?' Rose was staring at Scorpius incredulously.

Scorpius really wished he wasn't so pale. It made his blushing so obvious and embarrassing. Luckily for him, the food and drinks arrived before he could think of a suitable answer.

The waiter placed their stuff on the table. Rose sipped her coffee. Excited to eat, Scorpius bit into his pain au chocolat. It reminded him of Albus, funnily enough. They'd always eat pain au chocolats together, sneaking them into their dormitory or wherever they'd decided to hang out, and consume them as if they'd never seen food before while talking about deep topics of life, or joking and laughing about random stuff. Good times.

'Scorpius?' asked Rose. Scorpius jumped, and realised he'd been thinking about Albus for the past five minutes.

'Yeah, sorry, what?'

Rose frowned. 'Nothing, I was just wondering what you were doing grinning at your pain au chocolat.'

'Oh...' Scorpius blushed. 'Um, yeah I love pain au chocolats. And chocolate in general.'

'Do you?' Rose was sipping her drink and staring at Scorpius in a way he didn't understand. What did she want him to do?

'Why did I agree to go on a date with you anyway?' said Rose. Scorpius stiffened, confused. Although her words were hostile, her tone of voice was lighthearted. It freaked him out - he had no idea how to interpret it.

'Err...'

'Me and my friends were going to throw a big party in the Gryffindor common room. But they moved it to a different weekend for me.' Rose didn't even look at Scorpius, she just twirled her straw and looked around the café. 'I thought I'd give you a chance, try to improve your popularity.'

Heat spread over Scorpius's body as he blushed with shame. 'Why?'

'Why?' Rose glared at him, now clearly very angry. 'You're the reason my cousin is so unpopular. He was fine before he met you - he had loads of friends and was really funny and lighthearted. Now he never even smiles at family gatherings. He doesn't enjoying hanging out with me. My aunt told my dad that he spends all his time in his room. I stupidly thought that if I could make you more popular, Albus would improve too. Clearly, there's nothing I can do to help you two.

'Rose...I...' Scorpius's throat was dry. 'Maybe he's changed. Everyone changes.'

'Shut the fuck up, Malfoy. _You're_ the one who's changed him. None of this would have ever happened if you hadn't forced him to be your friend.'

'I didn't - '

'I'm done trying to help Albus. He never even talks to me anyway.' Rose stood up and walked out of the café.

Scorpius sighed and wiped sweat off his forehead. At least Rose hadn't stormed out and slammed the door - that would have added to the embarrassment. Taking out his purse, Scorpius put a few Sickles on the table (he had to pay for Rose, since she hadn't bothered to leave her share). As Scorpius stood up to leave, he tripped over his own feet, as if his humiliation could get any worse.

If only Albus were here, everything would be alright.


	3. Chapter 3

Finally, Scorpius was back where he wanted to be: his bed in the Slytherin dormitory. But the person he needed the most wasn't there with him. Scorpius flopped down onto his bed and cried for a solid twenty minutes.

After he finished he felt a little better. Things weren't so bad after all. But this incident had made Scorpius wonder why he'd ever been so obsessed with Rose. Sure, she was very pretty, but so were a lot of girls in their year. Scorpius pondered the matter as he dried his eyes.

The dormitory door swung open, making Scorpius's heart soar. But the boy who entered wasn't Albus.

'Have you just been wanking alone all day?' said Flint, his lip curling. 'I thought you did that with Potter.'

Scorpius stiffened. No one else was here. Flint could beat him up if he want to. Luckily, he'd only come to fetch something, so Scorpius was spared more bullying.

Now Scorpius had even more to worry about. Flint's comment made him wonder what everyone thought him and Albus did together. Not only that, but the wanking thing confused Scorpius. Was it bad to masturbate? He did it almost every night, while all the other boys were in their beds too. Was that weird? This was one topic Scorpius had always been embarrassed to talk to Albus about.

Bored, Scorpius decided to go look for his best friend.

Albus wasn't in the Slytherin common room (not that Scorpius expected him to be there - they didn't have any other friends in Slytherin, or any other friends at all, for that matter). At last, he found Albus reading in the library.

'Hi Albus.'

'Scorpius!' Albums dog-eared the page of the book he was reading, which made Scorpius wince, and shut it. 'How was your date?'

'Terrible. Let's go somewhere else and talk about it, or Madam Pince will carry out her threat to ban us from the library.' Sure enough, Madam Pince was glaring at them like there was no greater crime than whispering in the library during a designated quiet study hour.

'OK, but let me borrow this novel first. I am loving the wider selection of Muggle books Hogwarts has added.'

Scorpius waited for Albus, then they set off towards their usual place to hang out. The Room of Requirement.

After the Room of Requirement had been made common knowledge decades ago, during Harry Potter's time at Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall had decided to make some changes to it. The Headmistress had performed a complex enchantment so the Room could be separately used by many different parties at the same time. It was useful for Scorpius and Albus because they could always rely on the Room for a place to hang out in peace.

Albus stuffed his book into his satchel. 'Let's go.'

As the boys walked together in silence, their arms brushed against each other, and Scorpius was aware of Albus's breathing. For some reason, it made him feel a sudden rush of love for his best friend.

They had reached the Room, just as two sixth-year girls came out of one of the infinite sub-rooms, looking like they'd just run a marathon.

'Those girls look so tired and sweaty and messy - were they wrestling or something?' said Scorpius as they entered the Room, which contained just a single two-seater comfy-looking sofa this time.

Albus giggled and plopped onto the sofa. 'I think they'd just fucked each other, Scorpius.'

This made Scorpius's jaw drop. 'You mean...they're homosexual?'

Albus raised an eyebrow. 'Most people just say "lesbians". But, y'know, they're not necessarily gay. They could be bisexual. Or something else.'

Scorpius was so shocked.

'Do you think it's weird or something?' asked Albus, his eyes wide.

'No, no. I remember, a few years before my mum died, she mentioned homosexuality She just said I need to think for myself when it comes to things like this, and never be mean to other people.' Thinking about his mum always filled Scorpius with a mixture of emotions, so he went quiet. To his surprise and enjoyment, Albus shuffled over to him and put his arms around him.

'Th-this is nice,' Scorpius choked.

'It is, isn't it?"

'I'm glad we hug now.'

'Me too.'

Regretfully, Albus pulled away from Scorpius after a minute or so. 'Anyway, tell me about your date,' he said.

'Oh, I'm over it. I don't even care anymore.' _Now that I'm alone with you._

 _'_ Wait, but what happened?'

'Oh, Rose just started ranting at me, saying how I'd _changed_ you and made you unpopular. I wish I'd just gone to Hogsmeade with you instead.'

'Oh wow.' Albus shook his head. 'You know, Scorpius, I did always wonder why you liked Rose so much.'

 **Note: The underlined words are meant to be crossed out (strike through)**

'Well, it was just a no-homo thing.'

Albus blinked. 'What?'

'The writers of 'Cursed Child' thought our relationship was too gay, so they just shoved in the whole Rose thing to abide by heteronormative standards.'

Scorpius leaned back into the comforting softness of the sofa. 'I don't really know. I guess I always saw her as _that_ girl - the pretty, popular one who's brilliant in all her subjects and a great Quidditch player.'

'You're very smart yourself,' Albus pointed out.

'Yeah, but I have my strengths and weaknesses, whereas Rose...Rose is a perfect all-rounder.'

'She's a complete bitch to me though.'

Scorpius fell about giggling. When he heard other students swearing, it always sounded stupid or scary, but Albus's swearing was the funniest thing on earth to him.

'But, you know, she did seem to care about you a lot, while she was having a go at me,' said Scorpius, after he'd recovered from his sudden outburst.

'Dont let that bullshit fool you for one second.' Albus's voice suddenly became lower and growling. 'She just doesn't like her weirdo cousin spouting her reputation.'

'Oh.'

There was a silence.

'So, um, what do you wanna talk about?' asked Albus, before the silence became too awkward.

'Well, if you don't mind...' Scorpions sat up, eager to question Albus about the interesting stuff those sixth-year girls were up to. 'What does "bisexual" mean?'

Albus didn't judge Scorpius for his lack of knowledge on this basic vocabulary. They never judged each other. 'It's when you're attracted to both sexes.'

'Wait, what?' Today was certainly a day of learning and revelations for Scorpius. 'How is that even possible?'

Albus shrugged. 'How is being gay possible? No one really knows. That's why some people say gay people are confused or have mental issues.'

'Well, do they?'

'Nah. Most gay people are gay for life and do not have mental issues. They're completely normal people.'

Scorpius mused over this. 'How do you know so much about it anyway?'

Albus blushed. 'Well, from two different things. One, funnily enough, my dad.'

Scorpius gasped. 'YOUR DAD? You mean to tell me he just sat you down and told you about gay stuff?'

'No way!' Albus looked horrified at the prospect. 'In the summer holidays after the end of our second year at Hogwarts, he gave me this book about puberty for boys. I don't think he even knew the book had all that stuff about gayness. Anyway, it was a bit too late for me - I'd already hit puberty way long ago.'

'Wow.' Clearly, the Potters' method of sex education was vastly different to the traditional wizarding method (which was to say as little as possible about the matter). 'My dad didn't tell me about puberty at all - everything I knew was from my mum. She just said I would get hair in my private areas and armpits and face, and my voice would break, and I'd get more sweaty and stuff. But as for sex, I learnt that all at Hogwarts, from hearing the other boys in our dormitory talking about it, and overhearing conversations in the Slytherin common room.'

'Really?' said Albus. 'We got taught about puberty in year five, and sex in year six. But I know the Muggle primary school that me, James and Lily went to must have been way different to how you were taught.'

Scorpius couldn't imagine his middle-aged, pure-blood tutor talking to him about sex. 'Yeah. I was never taught anything that wasn't strictly to do with reading writing, numeracy, history, geography or magic when I was a child. I wish I had though - it would have saved me a lot of confusion and anxiety.'

Albus rubbed Scorpius's back. It felt really nice and comforting. 'Hey, if you want to know anything, I could always find out for you from my other source of info.'

'Which is?'

'The Hogwarts library.'

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. 'Since when was the library a source of sex info?'

'Since they expanded their range of books to include Muggle titles as well. I am _so_ into Muggle Young Adult fiction. There's this great book, well actually it's a series - '

'Can you please just get to the sex part?' Scorpius interrupted.

'OK, OK. So the library have stocked all the popular Muggle titles, fiction and non-fiction. They've got loads of books about puberty, including sex, gayness - everything. And the fiction is so good too. They've got some gay books, and books with loads of sex in it.'

'Seriously?' Scorpius couldn't believe this. It was too good to be true. 'I can't imagine Madam Pince loaning you erotic novels.'

'Well, those books are for sixth-years and above only. But I can still read them while I'm in the library, as long as I'm careful not to let Madam Pince see.'

'Are you sure she hasn't put some spell on the books that'll curse you?'

Albus shrugged. 'I feel okay, so I doubt it. Don't worry. Anyway, you should come with me sometime and read them. They are so sexy. And you can find some kinky stuff too, if that's what you're into.'

'Umm...' If Scorpius was honest, he didn't know what he was into. His sexual fantasies were diverse and shocking, so much that he was embarrassed to tell even his best friend. 'Shall we go now?'

'No, it's nearly dinner time. The library will close pretty soon. But I can show you this lesbian book I'm currently reading.'

'Good idea.' Scorpius couldn't wait to read some scandalous gay kissing scenes. 'But show me after dinner. I'm starving.'

'Same.'

The boys got up and left the room, the door behind them magically morphing back into the wall, as they hurried to fill their empty stomachs.

 **Leave a review if you liked this chapter, or even if you didn't like it. Tell me what you want to see more of in the next chapter!**


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